A new study is emphasizing the need for further research and examination towards the discrimination of Canadian Muslim women in the healthcare system.
The McMaster Research Shop and the Muslim Advisory Council of Canada (MACC) joined forces to investigate the experiences of Islamophobia towards Muslim women within healthcare systems in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.
The Ontario Human Rights Commission describes Islamophobia as “stereotypes, bias or acts of hostility towards individual Muslims or followers of Islam in general”.
The organizations looked at areas of mental health, maternal care, palliative care and more with the purpose of assessing the concerns of Canadian Muslim women who have had negative experiences when accessing healthcare services.
The study found that obscure displays of discrimination were more common compared to overt incidences. For instance, dismissive interactions from healthcare professionals were a frequent occurrence for Canadian Muslim women.
However, the report noted there is a gap in findings regarding the experiences of Muslim women from a Canadian perspective. As a result,, majority of the data originates from the United States and the United Kingdom.
“We may not be able to generalize their findings and recommendations to a Canadian context as these countries have different healthcare policies and governance,” the report explained.
The report looked at eight studies from the United States, three studies from Canada and three studies from the United Kingdom, all of which included Muslim women as participants.
It used the following two scales to evaluate Islamophobia in healthcare settings: the Discrimination in Medical Settings scale which analyzed the frequency in which Muslim women are treated with poor service compared to non-Muslims and the Health Care Discrimination scale which measured the extent of Islamophobia in healthcare settings.
“In a study about cervical cancer screening in the U.S., 60 per cent of Muslim women felt that they were never treated with less courtesy and 66 per cent felt that they were never treated with less respect compared to non-Muslims,” reads the report.
“…Out of 227 Muslim men and women, 27.6 per cent reported ever feeling discriminated against because of their religion,” it added.
In another study conducted in the U.S., “91 out of 164 participants (55.4 per cent) reported being excluded or ignored, 60 (36.6 per cent) experienced offensive or insensitive remarks, and 6 (3.7 per cent) reported physical assault.”
“They also experienced problems related to wearing Islamic dress (72 out of 164, 43.9 per cent), prayer rituals (31 out of 164, 18.9 per cent), and Islamic holidays (42 out of 164, 25.6 per cent),” the report continued.
There was a major increase in Islamophobia following the September 11, 2001 attacks and the Boston Marathon bombing in April 2013. In both cases, Muslim adults felt discrimination worsened after these events, the study says.
As a whole, these organizations have come to the conclusion that research on Muslim patient experiences of Islamophobia is lacking in healthcare settings in Canada, especially for women and children.
“The Canadian healthcare system is responsible for ensuring appropriate and effective care for all its citizens, yet evidence suggests not everyone is treated equally…the Muslim Advisory Council of Canada should consider conducting further studies on the experience of women and children in Canadian healthcare settings and include participants from various cultures, ethnicities, races, and socioeconomic backgrounds,” McMaster Research Shop Team Lead, Krishian Camargo, said in the report.
The MACC says it is hoping to gain support from the federal and provincial governments in order to conduct health equity research. This research would include a comprehensive data strategy with Canadian visible minority and immigrant females, as the focus group.
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